It was the Best of Times, It was the Worst of Times (Jackson Day 3)

Today was all over the place. Finally, we didn't wake up to the drippy drip sound of the thawing Tetons, but instead heard the grind grind crunch crunch of ice.

In yet another attempt to appease the snow gods, I donned the award winning onesie and prepared to shred. We headed up to the summit on a thankfully empty tram and were rocked with one of the iciest bowls I have ever ridden. Once we got out of the super highs though, we headed into some fun stuff off the Thunder bowl and got into the best trees and snow we've had the whole trip. While the runs were short, the snow made everyone forget about the iffy conditions.

As we emerged from the trees, the snow gods smiled down upon us. SNOW SNOW SNOW. While it isn't heavy, it is coming down and finally reminding us that it is in fact winter, and we are at 10,000 feet. Hopefully it keeps up and repairs the gnarly steep ice bumps that cover most of the hill.

And to the worst of times. So we tried 3 different areas today. The first two runs we dropped into awesome trees and had happy times. Then, we tried a different tree section. That was a bad idea. We dropped right in and immediately knew we made a mistake. Super super hard ice. The last few days totally melted the area and it got bumped like crazy. Then last night it froze solid and made for a awful and treacherous decent of almost 3000 vertical feet in a gully that we really couldn't get out of. We had to hike out a traverse with dudes from Jerz that were equally trapped and miserable. Once farther skiers left on the hill, we had to then drop down the final section over a frozen mashed potato field. It was super super hard and covered in bumps. Lots of traversing and ass-slides were required but BIG STRONG UPPER BODIES helped us grind through.

More good stuff though. Dong and I tracked down the "locals" place to eat and drink at the mountain - the village cafe and enjoyed pretending like we were the cool kids.

So good stuff, awful stuff. I'll take a mixed bag any day. Those tree runs reminded us just how good things can be and that's enough.

Off to the town of Jackson tonight to eat anything that once was cute, furry, or with antlers. Let's all hope for cold cold weather tonight and some of this snow to finally show up.